Microsoft Signs Another Android License Agreement

Microsoft has in the past signed a number of licensing deals with a range of hardware manufacturers relating to Google’s Android OS, which include manufacturers of some of the most popular Android devices like Samsung and HTC.

Microsoft has announced another licensing deal relating to Google’s Android OS, Compal and the deal also relates to Compal’s devices running Google’s Chrome platform.

“We are pleased to have reached this agreement with Compal, one of the leaders in the original design manufacturing, or ODM, industry. Together with the license agreements signed in the past few months with Wistron and Quanta Computer, today’s agreement with Compal means more than half of the world’s ODM industry for Android and Chrome devices is now under license to Microsoft’s patent portfolio,” said Horacio Gutierrez, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel, Intellectual Property Group at Microsoft. “We are proud of the continued success of our licensing program in resolving IP issues surrounding Android and Chrome.”

This is now Microsoft’s tenth licensing deal with a maker of Android devices, and Microsoft is reported to be generating considerably more revenue from its Android licensing deals than it is with its own mobile OS, Windows Phone.

I am not a ‘conspiracy’ person but there are times it seems Microsoft is using these threats of ‘patent infringement lawsuits’ as a way to ‘extort’ money from other companies. It seems that if they can not succeed on their own or with their own products, they ‘succeed’ by forcing others to ‘pay up’ on ‘their intellectual property’.

As you can see, I am not a fan of Microsoft or their products. The above is just my opinion; such as it is. 🙂